Not much this chapter, just some bonding time between Jay and Enatsu. Sorry, but the next few will be mostly dialogue, with probably a lot of important conversations, and some assimilation of the former mercs with the ninja.

Chapter 22: Virtual Abyss

Enatsu P.O.V., 9 hours, 14 minutes following "Family Affairs", 6:30 P.M.

"Hey, dinners ready!"

Had Marasu Enatsu not been engrossed in upgrading his Yokai, he may have heard Jay knocking on his door, and his call that followed. However, such was the case, a catastrophic mistake on his part; what ensued was a yelp and the scattering of multiple crucial parts needed to build the Yokai back up.

By the time Marasu had recovered, multiple parts were already strewn across the room, many being small pieces. Scowling, he glared at Jay, who had a very sheepish look on his face.

"Sorry?" He offered, moving in to help pick up the pieces.

Enatsu sighed. "It's fine. Come help pick up the pieces, would you?"

Jay nodded, kneeling down to find the smaller screws and fine machinery. As they both picked up the last of the parts, Jay noticed the small drone laying on the table, whistling in surprise. "That's a pretty nice drone you've got there, bud."

Marasu nodded curtly. "It's called the Yokai; built it myself. Quite the contraption, that. Capable of emitting ultrasonic bursts, which disorient anyone in the vicinity of the blast."

Jay grinned. "So you're the 'Echo' guy, huh? Kenshi said you were an engineering major?"

Enatsu chuckled, extending a hand out to Jay. "The name's Marasu, Marasu Enatsu. And yes, I am an engineering major. Tōkyōdaigaku sotsugyō."

Jay gripped his hand firmly, shaking it. "Excuse my ignorance, I haven't brushed up on my Japanese in years, but that means you graduated from Tokyo University, right?"

Echo smiled. "Yeah, I graduated from Tōkyōdaigaku– sorry, Tokyo University. Sorry, I'm just used to speaking Japanese when it comes to conversations about this stuff. Most people that ask are Japanese, seeing as that's where most of my current work is."

Jay nodded, patting his jeans for his phone. "If it isn't confidential of anything, where did you get the codename Echo if you were an engineer?"

Marasu laughed as he began rebuilding Yokai. "Well, I'm not a full time engineer. For about fifteen years I worked for Atlas, four as an engineer and field controller, three as a Sābisuadobaizā (service advisor) for the Japanese Metropolitan Police, or JMP, and the last eight as a private contractor, a merc, under the codename Echo, because of the Yokai's bursts."

Jay leaned over his shoulder as he worked, looking for a good view of the Yokai's internals. As he watched him work, Jay could only look on in awed silence, amazed at the skilled hands the quickly flew to repair the disassembled drone. It looks like a souped up Roomba, but more badass. He quickly activated his phone, texting Cole.

Don't wait for us @ dinner. Might be here 4 a while.

"Can you hit me with a Yokai blast?"

Enatsu looked up for a moment, surprised by the question. He blinked, then stared the blue ninja down. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

Jay glared back, matching his gaze. "Can you hit me with the Yokai's burst?"

Echo could only look at him in a shocked amazement. "You're serious?" Jay nodded. "Well, I could, but you have to promise me if one of your friends walk in, you're explaining, and if anything happens to you during or after the blast, you can't blame me for anything."

Jay nodded quickly. "Yeah, yeah of course. But can you just blast me once, I wanna see how it feels!"

Enatsu, distracted, let his hand slip, causing sparks to go flying from the Yokai's internals. "Kuso tawagoto!" (Fucking shit!)

He nearly dropped his tools, but opted to push deeper into the wiring, causing him to be shocked by the exposed wiring multiple times, but he eventually managed to pull out the wires, essentially breaking it. "Dammit, that's the fourth one this month!" He groaned, leaning back and covering his face with his hands. "Motto tsuyoi waiyā o kau hitsuyō ga aru." (I need to buy a stronger wire)

Jay backed away, despite his resistance to the sparks. "Why don't you buy stronger wires?"

Enatsu nearly threw the dismantled Yokai at him. "I just said th– you don't speak Japanese, right. Sorry for lashing out, but this is the fourth Yokai I've had to make and broken in the past month."

Jay looked on in amazement. "You build all these guys by hand? How long does it take?"

Marasu stared at him in confusion. "Of course I make these on my own, how else would I make them? And it takes about a four or five days, six if I'm busy that week. It used to take me longer but I make a bunch of frames every few months, so then all I have to do is connect the wiring and set it up to be compatible with my phone."

Jay sighed mournfully. "I wish I was this good at this stuff. Everything I make either works for two weeks before breaking down or blowing up in my face before I even use it!"

Echo chuckled. "Don't worry, kid. It took me four years to get the Yokai working properly. The first time it really worked, it could only sustain one burst before completely exploding. If you really need help, I could help with any projects you're working on now, it's not like I can do much now that Yokai's broken, and most of my frames are back at home."

Jay's eyes lit up at the proposition. "Yeah, I'd love that! But for now, I think dinner sounds nice. I'm pretty sure everyone's eaten but us now."

Marasu nodded. "Some food sounds nice right now. Besides, if I don't, Yumiko's gonna get on my case about 'being too focused on Yokai' again. A few years ago she forced me off active duty for three weeks because I 'spent too much time' in the robotics workshop."

Jay laughed as he walked out to the kitchen, Marasu close behind him. Finding the kitchen empty, they helped themselves to dinner, yakitori and soba, courtesy of Yumiko. As they finished, Enatsu offered to wash the dishes, a deal Jay eagerly accepted, before walking but to his room to turn in for the night.

As Marasu worked quietly, his mind drifted, reminiscing of when he was a field operator, of the friends he had made in his time at Atlas, and of home. As he pondered such thoughts, he was reminded of one Ryan Ashina, a boy he had grown up with, and joined Atlas with, both placing highest in their respective classes.

What he didn't know, was that at the exact same time, he was dead in ditch, in the middle of a forest, never to be seen by his family or friends ever again.

Again, sorry for the lack of action recently, and that will continue for a while. Unfortunately I've just been losing focus, and I need to get back in the groove of how I used to write